3rd Annual Run To The Coast - Mosh Pit - Expaned for Web!

33 Camaros throw down hard at the third annual Run To The Coast

Mike Wright is one of those guys that started out going to car shows and then got hooked on actually driving his ’69 Camaro. Before long he was spending his money on a new helmet in lieu of the latest and greatest paste wax. He fastest lap times were 1:53.70 on the road course, 45.045 in the autocross, and 25.344 in the speed-stop-squared (SS2).

It’s springtime and even though Southern California really doesn’t have a winter (compared to the rest of the country, anyway), we still look forward to this time of year because it’s the start of the summer competition driving season. Sure, there are car shows, but we would rather optimize tire pressures than rub our cars with microfiber towels. The main problem for us West Coasters is that many of the super-cool driving events are too far east, making them geographically undesirable to attend. Luckily, a group of Tennessee gearheads took pity on us and organized the inaugural Run to the Coast event in 2010. It combined a full-blown road course, autocross, and speed-stop competition into two days and guaranteed to satiate the needs of those wanting to haul ass in their hot rods.

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Since then, driving events have only gained in popularity to the point where Bill Howell, Yancy Johns, and Brian Finch formed a new association called American Street Car Series (ASCS). ASCS’s sole mission is to organize driving events around the country geared towards American muscle cars. So, how popular has this event become? Well, this year the whole grid of 70-plus spots sold out the day after registration opened online. Pent up demand? Maybe. All we know is that it warms our collective hearts to see so much classic muscle getting used the way God intended. Of course, nearly half of the cars in attendance were Camaros, and that was fine by us.

We’re not going to pretend that this isn’t a competition, but the organizers really stress that the main goal is for people to have fun driving their cars. As such, many of the rules incorporate the spirit of the event rather than specific nit-picky rules that racers can try to contort their way around. Sure, there are some serious cars with some really serious drivers in attendance, but that doesn’t mean the organizers and veteran racers aren’t friendly towards those with less—or no—track experience. After all, even a wheelman like DSE’s Kyle Tucker was a newbie at some point.

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Like previous years, the main event featured a 1.8-mile road course set up by Orange County Race Craft on the now-defunct El Toro Marine Corps runways. The autocross was designed to test driver reaction times and the car’s ability to stick in very fast turns and transitions. The ASCS also inserted a new event called speed-stop-squared (SS2) in place of the old speed-stop competition. In this competition, two cars stage at a real Christmas tree, just like at the dragstrip. On the green light, both cars launch down a 1,000-ish-foot straightaway. At the end, the left car turns left while the right car goes right and into a 180-degree turn and back through a slalom course. The run then culminates in a stop box.

It’s a blast to watch, and even harder than it looks, since red-lighting at the tree, hitting a slalom cone, or failing to stop in the rather diminutive stop box results in a DNF. The overall event rules were simple: cars had to pass a technical safety inspection, be street legal, and have tires with a treadwear rating of 200 or higher. Cars running on softer compound tires could run, but their times wouldn’t be posted in the final results. There was also a contingency program sponsored by BFGoodrich with lots of prize money up for grabs.

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Aside from all the driving events, there was a Saturday night taco party sponsored by Doug Renner and JCG Customs. Sunday featured a cruise to the NHRA museum in Pomona. The driving events get sort of hectic, so it’s nice to have these more relaxed activities to hang out with fellow gearheads and enjoy what this sport is all about: making friends and talking cars.

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3rd Annual Run To The Coast - Mosh Pit - Expaned for Web!

Mike Wright is one of those guys that started out going to car shows and then got hooked on actually driving his ’69 Camaro. Before long he was spending his money on a new helmet in lieu of the latest and greatest paste wax. He fastest lap times were 1:53.70 on the road course, 45.045 in the autocross, and 25.344 in the speed-stop-squared (SS2).

Mike Wright is one of those guys that started out going to car shows and then got hooked on actually driving his ’69 Camaro. Before long he was spending his money on a new helmet in lieu of the latest and greatest paste wax. He fastest lap times were 1:53.70 on the road course, 45.045 in the autocross, and 25.344 in the speed-stop-squared (SS2).

We really dug Rodney Prouty’s super-sano ’68 RS. It looked great, sounded awesome, and Rodney had a blast putting the Camaro though the gauntlet of events. Best times were 1:51.80 on the road course, 43.600 on the autocross, and 23.030 in the SS2.

Todd Akes brought his sick big-block–powered ’69 all the way from Lost Wages, Nevada, to blast around the various courses. He was rollin’ on 100-treadwear Toyo R888 tires, so his times didn’t count, but we loved hearing that big-inch big-block roar.

To keep our Black Betty project car company, Ryan Murray brought out his ’00 Z28. He didn’t have a road course lap time listed, but the results sheet does show he managed a 43.884 in the autocross and 22.930 in the SS2.

Greg Blundell’s ’69 was just finished over at Best of Show Coach Works, and he decided to stretch its legs for the first time at this event. Since he was on sticky Toyo RA1 tires, his times didn’t count, but he had a blast properly breaking in his new ride.

Eric David’s ’69 is nice enough to win just about any car show, which makes the fact that he beats on it that much cooler. On the road course, he turned in a respectable 1:55.40 lap time. On the autocross he knocked down a best lap of 44.339 and in the SS2 he had 23.570.

Fancy paint and shiny chrome doesn’t make your car faster. Cars like Steven Martinez’s ’68 show that you can have a lot of fun on a wallet-friendly budget. His tires were softer than what the rules allowed, but that didn’t keep him from winding out his Camaro around the various courses.

While most of the Camaros in attendance were of the classic variety, a few fifth-gens came out to party as well. This ’10 was piloted by Patrick Kalscheuer. He didn’t have a ton of racing experience, but he was still having fun while honing his skills. No road course time, but he knocked down a 47.801 on the autocross and 24.190 in the SS2.

Sweet wheels. Check. Killer stance. Check. Yep, Aaron Raymond’s ’69 RS was another Camaro nice enough to gather a crowd at any show. Today though, it was all about going fast and improving on times.

Gerald Lum loves to drive his ’71 Z28 hard and is one of the most enthusiastic guys at every event he attends. He turned in best times of 1:59.20 on the road course and 23.035 on the SS2, but he really shined on the autocross with Seventh-place time of 41.317 seconds.

Mary Pozzi left her second-gen at home and was a test pilot for this recently finished, and very badass, ’68. She nabbed an Eighth place on the road course with a 1:44.60 run, and Ninth on the autocross with a best time of 41.660 seconds. In the SS2, she turned in a best run of 22.750 seconds.

Not all the Camaros in attendance were full-on Pro Touring builds. Roy Rozelle’s ’69 RS/SS had enough performance parts to be fun to drive, but wasn’t mini-tubbed or running parts made from unobtanium. Most of all, he had a great time enjoying his F-body at full throttle all weekend.

To say the road course was hard on brakes would be an epic understatement. Long straights into hard 90- and 180-degree turns were brutal. Since we didn’t know the track layout, we showed up with our ’68 project, Bad Penny, armed with autocross-friendly Hawk DTC-30 pads. These are great for the street, autocross, and most tracks, but not here. Unfortunately, we boiled the fluid and fried the rotors. That white powder around the edge of the rotor used to be zinc. Here, David Pozzi helps Rupp change out to fresh brake fluid before heading back onto the track. Black Betty, our ’00 Z28, also suffered from cooked fluid.

James Shipka came down from frozen Canada to enjoy his ’67 Camaro in the nearly endless sunny SoCal weather. He secured Sixth place on the road course with a best lap of 1:43.30 seconds. On the autocross he managed a 42.80 run, and he bagged Ninth in the SS2 competition with a 22.510-second blast.

With a fresh LS3 under the hood and rolling on Nitto NT05 rubber, Nick Licata had a blast putting the performance tools to good use. There was a slight overheating problem, so we might look at getting a more-robust radiator, and he also had a few problems getting the T56 to shift (check out trans rebuild article on page 50). Still, he turned in some very good times with a 1:50.70 on the road course, 42.195 in the autocross, and 22.360 in the SS2, which was good enough for Seventh place.

The Speed by Spectre wide-body ’70 Camaro was wheeled by Brandy Morrow, and she pushed the Camaro to its limit all weekend long. On the road course, she came in Ninth with a 1:46.20 and Thirteenth in the autocross with a best time of 42.417 seconds.

The Chassisworks-equipped ’68 Camaro was driven by Ironworks’ shop owner Roger Lee. This car is rough, but in a cool way, with a white vinyl wrap instead of paint, and Lexan replacing all of the glass. A transponder issue meant he didn’t get an official time on the road course, but on the autocross he knocked down a 45.271-second run.

Matt Alcala brought out his CP-featured ’69 Camaro (“Crash Course,” Oct. ’11) for a few fun runs. He was fielding a brand-new engine, so he only made a few laps, but we still loved seeing this stunning Camaro run.

Representing third-gens was the sole responsibility of William Garrett in his ’91 Z28. This car was super clean and William turned in a 2:02.9 on the road course, 49.045 in the autocross, and 25.520 for the SS2.

Keith Smith, of Custom Works Performance, brought out his official test car: a freshly rebuilt ’71 Camaro. With a badass Jim Putney-built small-block under the hood and a host of suspension widgets, this second-gen simply rocked. On the road course he knocked down a 1:51.40 and in the SS2 his best time was 22.880.

Tom Foglesong drove our favorite budget-built first-gen all the way from Arizona to mingle amongst the cones. Powered by a 5.3L LS engine, this ’67 shows what can be done with a lot of hard work and relatively little cash. Tom ran hard and had best times of 1:54.20 on the road course, 45.294 on the autocross, and a 23.720 in the SS2.

With fresh fluid and toasted rotors, David Pozzi piloted Bad Penny to Fifth on the road course and Fourth on the autocross. His drag racing skills were a bit rusty, so he slipped to Eleventh with a 22.60-second run in the SS2. The car’s owner, Steven Rupp, didn’t fare as well but had a blast. Here, Rupp shows why 607 rwhp, while entertaining, isn’t the best way to get quick times..

We really need to come up with a new category for cars like Brian Hobaugh’s pseudo-racecar ’73, since the “touring” part of Pro Touring doesn’t seem to fit. One thing is for sure, it’s freakin’ fast. Brian wielded his Camaro to Third on the road course, Second in the autocross, and Third in the SS2. He was a man on a mission until his transmission fragged, locked up, and caused a spectacular slide, which sidelined the car before the weekend’s end.

If there were a “fast Chevy” award it would have been given to Kyle Tucker of Detroit Speed Inc. When the dust settled on Saturday, Kyle had secured First on the road course, Third on the autocross, and Second in the SS2 competition. Considering the field of very fast cars present, that’s no small feat to pull off.

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